Ateneo professor comes out as Dilawan loyalist, gushes over BS Aquino

From being a critic of the previous administration, De La Salle University (DLSU) history professor Lisandro Elias “Leloy” Claudio has admitted to being a fan of former President Benigno Aquino III– and he’s proud to be called a “Yellowtard.”

In an opinion piece posted on Rappler.com, Claudio said he feels nostalgic over the time when Aquino and his allies were in power now that it’s President Rodrigo Duterte calls the shots.

While Aquino and the Liberal Party are by no means great– “they are part of a political system that has consistently failed the majority of Filipinos”– the former professor at the Ateneo de Manila University said he misses the former administration because Duterte is turning out to be the worse alternative.

“With an authoritarian as president, however, I have come to realize that we should value liberal democrats, however feckless they seem. Better a slightly inefficient oligarch than a mass murderer,” he said.

Even if Aquino should be faulted for failing to act on the farmers’ plight at the family owned Hacienda Luisita, Claudio said Duterte has proved he’s more elitist by waging a drug war systematically targeting the poor.

“We have lost so much since PNoy was driven back to Times Street: our sovereignty vis-a-vis the Chinese, a certain level of sanity in our political speech, the admiration of the international community, and our respect for basic human rights. And while we may have gotten rid of people like de los Reyes and the much-maligned Emilio Abaya, we are now subject to the likes of Wigman and Mocha Uson,” he said.

If Aquino strengthened certain institutions during his term, Claudio said the same cannot be said of Duterte, who “has tarnished the reputation of constitutional bodies like the Ombudsman and the CHR, appointed liars to communications offices, insulted the DFA by initially designating an unqualified American as its head, turned the Department of Justice into a vehicle for vendettas, and, worst of all, he has brutalized the police.”

Suffice it to say, the drastic changes that have happened since Duterte rose to power has made Claudio change his mind about the administration he once vilified.

“So, yes, I am a proud yellowtard. I am yellowtard because, while I believe in change, I believe in slow, responsible change that does not have a body toll of 8,000. I am a yellowtard because basic democracy represents basic decency,” he said.